During an emergency meeting of the Florida A&M University Foundation board on Thursday evening, university president Larry Robinson, citing “more information that has come to my attention,” announced that the $237 million gift from the Isaac Batterson 7th Family Trust and Gerami is on hold.
A motion for an independent audit of the FAMU Foundation failed by one vote.
“This meeting is taking place because none of us, as I’m aware from this conversation, had any clue that this going on,” FAMU Foundation board member Chekesha Kidd said. “We’re talking about a transformational, largest donation in HBCU history done on stage with a big check with press involved and a big PR campaign pushed after the fact. If that doesn’t signal that we need to take a step back and get our own house in order, I don’t know what does.”
During the Zoom call, Robinson said that officials decided to “put a pause” on the donation.
“It’s in our best interest to put that on hold,” he said.
Robinson stated the school would not move forward until it could determine the value of the stocks donated by Gregory Gerami, the CEO of Batterson Farms Corp and a trustee of the Isaac Batterson Family 7th Trust that provided the donation.
FAMU will investigate why and how Gerami appeared to announce the gift at the spring graduation ceremony.
Several board members expressed during Thursday’s meeting that they were not informed of the large donation until it occurred during graduation or the following day.
Shawnta Friday-Stroud, the executive director of the FAMU Foundation, noted that during talks with FAMU officials, Gerami insisted that he increase the donation after allegedly learning that Spelman College received a $100 million gift, the largest given to an HBCU at the time.
Despite Gerami promising $237 million in stocks in his own company, the shares, Friday-Stroud, said an evaluation of the stocks could reveal them to be worthless or upwards of $300,000, depending on what a buyer might pay for it.
The development comes just hours after it was reported that Gerami and FAMU officials signed a gift agreement document indicating “The donor donated 14 million shares of stock of intrinsic value worth at least $239,000,000 and will donate an additional $61,000,000 over 10 years.'”
Within the agreement is a 10-year donation schedule that illustrates how the money would be spent across the University, potentially $100 million of that gift going to FAMU athletics.
Gerami said the reason for the stock conversion timetable was “I think that’s the way (FAMU) wanted to do it to not pull from the assets too crazy of an amount at one time.”
Gerami and the university have come under fire since Saturday’s announcement of a $237 million donation, the largest ever to an HBCU.
The Florida A&M board of trustees has called an emergency meeting for Wednesday, May 15, at 3 p.m. That meeting is open to the public.
